Saturday, August 19, 2006

Jetlag zapper

Aerospace giant Airbus reckons the jetlag, the scourge of air travel, could be made more pleasant using pulsing electromagnets.

The company's German division is considering aircraft seats with magnetic coils built into the back and the foot rests. These coils would be fed pulsed power, at a frequency between 10 hertz and 20 Hz, for 10 minutes at a time.

The patent application claims that the resulting electromagnetic fields should have a positive effect on passengers, by affecting cellular activity, stimulating blood flow and altering brain activity.

The result, the application says, is a relaxed state, controlled melatonin production which reduces jetlag, and less risk of deep vein thrombosis. It even suggests putting controls in the back of the seat in front to allow passengers to control their own coils.

It sounds pretty wacky. But even if the magnetic field has no medically provable effect, I suppose passengers might feel more pampered.

Isn't airbus having delays with the A380 due to EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) problems with their wiring? And now they are considering adding devices that purpously create electromagnetic fields to all of the seats? Explain the logic to me, please.